March 19, 2007

NO CAMPAIGN WILL PRODUCE A BETTER AD THIS CYCLE:

Officials in the Illinois senator's camp say they have nothing to do with the ad. The Clinton campaign says it doesn't know where the ad came from and had no further official comment. But Clinton supporters are wondering aloud about the role of Obama's campaign even though they readily admit they have no evidence to support their suspicions apart from Obama's Web site being named at the end.

Regardless of the source, the ad hits its mark. Simon Rosenberg, president of the Washington-based New Democrat Network in Washington, D.C., told The San Francisco Chronicle that the ad, cheaply produced and apparently unfettered by copyright restrictions, represents the power of individual activists in a new era.

The ad is proof that "anybody can do powerful emotional ads ... and the campaigns are no longer in control," Rosenberg said. "It will no longer be a top-down candidate message; that's a 20th century broadcast model."

Rich Masters, a Democratic strategist supporting Obama, told FOX News that the ad represents a new day in politics, but not one that voters should welcome. He called the ad shameful and part of "the politics of personal destruction."

"For all we know, Swift Boat Veterans For Truth produced it," Masters said, suggesting that those who stand to benefit from the publicity are not Obama and his supporters, but Republicans or another Democrat further down the pack.